THE families of failed asylum seekers are to lose their right to UK State support.

Ministers proposed the curbs yesterday to stop would-be migrants viewing Britain as “the land of milk and honey”.

Immigration Minister James Brokenshire insisted it was fair to genuine asylum seekers and taxpayers. The measure was one of several unveiled as the Government struggled to devise a convincing response to the crisis at Calais.

Thousands of desperate people from Syria, Libya, Eritrea, Somalia and other strife-torn countries are repeatedly risking their lives to get on trains and lorries to Britain. Mr Brokenshire said genuine refugees fleeing persecution should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach, or if they are there now, in France.

Paris has accepted some 900 refugee claims in Calais since the start of the year. The British Government will now consult on stripping support from the families of people whose claim for asylum in Britain is turned down.

Asylum applicants can get accommodation and a £36.95 weekly allowance in the form of a card to buy essential items with, from the time they lodge an asylum claim. Most individuals whose applications are refused lose the support but those with children keep getting help until they are sent home.

Some 10,000 failed asylum seekers in family groups do so. Under the change, failed asylum seekers with children will lose their automatic right to benefits although help would continue for those in need – for example if there are barriers to their leaving.

The Government will also consult on repealing the law under which some 4,000 individual failed asylum seekers are still receiving welfare.

Mr Brokenshire said: “The UK has a proud history of offering sanctuary to those who need it but failed asylum seekers who refuse to return home are illegal migrants.

“The current system shouldn’t offer any perverse incentives for illegal migrants to lodge spurious asylum applications or encourage those without genuine claims for humanitarian protection to prolong their stay in the UK.

I want to introduce new rules to support those who genuinely need it, but send out a very clear message to those who seek to exploit the system that Britain is not a soft touch on asylum

James Brokenshire, immigration minister

“It’s unfair to those in genuine need of asylum, and migrants who abide by our rules as well as to hard-working taxpayers.

“I want to introduce new rules to support those who genuinely need it, but send out a very clear message to those who seek to exploit the system that Britain is not a soft touch on asylum.”

This was “against a backdrop of people trying to present the UK as somehow the land of milk and honey”.

Lisa Doyle, of the Refugee Council, protested: “We have grave concerns. We know that the Government frequently gets life-anddeath decisions on asylum claims wrong, as nearly 30 per cent of appeals are successful.

“This harsh proposal seems to be based on the flawed logic that making families destitute will coerce them into going home.

“The Government has a duty to protect all children in this country and previous governments have recognised it is morally reprehensible to take support away from families with children.”

In another crackdown, landlords will have to boot out foreign tenants as soon as they lose their right to stay in Britain, the Government announced last night. It is extending a West Midlands pilot scheme that confers a legal duty for landlords, on pain of fines, to make “right to rent” checks on prospective tenants’ immigration status.

On receiving a Home Office notice that a tenant no longer has a right to live in the UK, the landlord or rental agent would be expected to ensure they leave the property in some cases without a court order.